Wednesday, February 13

Some reading notes:

I'm currently reading Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy for pleasure, and Ireland's Holy Wars:The Struggle for a Nation's Soul 1500-2000 by Marcus Tanner and Patrick: the Pilgrim Apostle of Ireland by Máire B. de Paor for work.

Today is Ash Wednesday of course. A couple of good starting points for Lent links:

here for an ecumenical set and here for a more exclusively RC look.

Here's a very good page with links to lots of appropriate Lenten readings from the like of St. Augustine, Cardinal Newman, Alphonsus Liguori, and others.

Ed Asner satisfied with his own television portrayal of Pope John XXIII for Italian television. Well, if he's happy, I'm happy.
A short article from the New York Post on Pierre Toussaint, a possible future saint.
As if we didn't know: Documents reveal Chinese animus against religion.

Several documents describe efforts to infiltrate religious groups using secret agents, as well as members who are "forced upon secret arrest to work for us." One refers to an order to establish "mobile reconnaissance teams" throughout the country to conduct electronic surveillance of suspects.

"Secret forces are the heart and soul in covert struggles and the crucial magic weapon in our battle against and victory over the enemy," it says, urging security agents to focus on Falun Gong members, underground Catholics and private businessmen with complicated political backgrounds, as well as university professors and students.

A Chicago priest doing good fights his transfer to another parish.